Answers by Linda W.

Your thesis statement should be in your first paragraph. For a college essay, it should fall as the last sentence in your introductory paragraph.
For the rest of a five paragraph essay (which is required for the writing section on the ACT or SAT) you should have a topic...

The salamander, long ago, was thought to live through fire. Fire, of course, is instrumental in this novel, and so, the salamander is a symbol that is connected to the symbol of fire and the destruction that fire causes in this novel. However, there is survival through all this...